#rockbottomshipping

[williceunleashed]

Okay, so basically:

Dardanne and N - The happy ending with to creatures traumatized together

Melony and Ghetsis - The sad ending where one is basically the rock and caretaker for the other

N/Dardanne / Fruitsaladshipping is DEFINITELY a happy ending ! I relate to N a lot and this poor creature deserves some happiness. Dar is his own character, with his own issues and arcs, but his relationship to N is integral to his character.

It's also important to remember that they evolved in a completely unbalanced relationship for all of BW1 (N was the King, Dardanne was just a grunt). N evolves throughout BW1 and stops treating Dardanne as his grunt to consider him as an equal, a friend, and maybe more.

When N comes back at the end of BW2, this power inbalance is still lingering in Dardanne's mind because he had been formated for years to obey Plasma royalty blindly, and sadly such brainwashing can't be undone in 2 years only. This means N has to double-check if Dardanne is accepting a suggestion because he genuinely wants to do it, or if it's because he triggered his trained response.

N also has his own set of issues, mainly relating to the emotional neglect and social isolation he went through during his childhood. Because he isn't used to be well-liked and because he has big autism, it's very hard for him to tell if someone is genuinely being friendly or has ulterior motives (pokémon master ex's Ghetsis would be a good example of that).

Their response to trauma varies depending on the trigger, but N usually has a very strong freeze response. He just goes silent and stops moving out of sheer fear. Dardanne has more of a fawn response and will try to please and appease who ever he perceives as a threat to avoid conflict. They are both working on that

These issues (including the big autism and big adhd) mean that straight forward communication is a central part of their relationship and make it way more healthy.

Their neurodivergence make their relationship easier too, because they understand each other better. They are straight-forward with each other, they know each other's sensory issues and sensory seeking, they understand when the other needs quiet alone time. They also have a lot of bonding over being simply very autistic with stuff like parallel play, where they just sit next to each other doing completely different activities, barely talking, and yet they still consider they are "having a date", and will consider the date a success once they are done. They also infodump to each other too, taking turns to monologue about their favorite stuff. They also do other various autistic things, such as following each other closely, pacing around when they monologue, stimming alone or together, repeating each other's sentences, etc.

As time goes, they just get happier and more comfortable in a normal domestic life.

They journey throughout Unova and do all the badges again, Dardanne winning them for his first time, N just following along and challenging the gym leader for the fun of it, experiencing life as some sort of trainer hybrid. They still don't engage with the Pokédex stuff though, and despite their pokémons now having a pokéball each, they are always out of it. They visit all the locations they explored together during their first journey and complete the gathering of the badges, but don't challenge the league.

With years they end up getting better and healing. They become a bit more confident and assertive, and find happiness in life. They become a bit more mischievious and can be troublemakers and pranksters around Rood and Alder (targeting the elderly).

They still both have scars of what happened, but it's not an open wound anymore and they can enjoy life at its fullest.

Melony/Ghetsis / Rockbottomshipping is... something else... It's not meant to be a sad ending per say, I'm very much ensure with which direction I want them to go. It's not very healthy obviously, and it's bittersweet.

Melony was never a really good person. He was a bully, and he got worse during his time in Plasma. He knew that the social structure and the hierarchy of Plasma would end up hurting the weak and vulnerable members, and he used it for his own gain. He had no issues throwing lower ranking members under the bus, or putting blame on new recruits. He was borderline abusive to Dardanne when he mentored him. When Dardanne was being taken advantage of by a higher ranking member, he did nothing because it was "not his business". Ghetsis saw Melony's patterns, and found it was more entertaining and useful to encourage him than to stop him.

Ghetsis' feelings for Melony are kind of weird. Ghetsis ends up developing a genuine bond with Melony inbetween BW1 and BW2. In BW2 the table starts turning, and Ghetsis seeks Melony for comfort and reassurance, which Melony gladly provides. Melony always had some weird crush on Ghetsis (terrible tastes), but Ghetsis reciprocates out of loneliness. Ghetsis feels genuinely ashamed he still feels the basic, disgusting need for cuddles, ugh. Their relationship goes into weird romance territory after that because Ghetsis ends up catching feelings for Mel. At this point Ghetsis is starting to spiral and his goals are simply to hurt as many people as he can when he goes down. He doesn't want to rule Unova anymore, he wants it gone from the map, and Melony just follows, not because he is forced to, but because he wants to. Ghetsis starts perceiving Melony as an equal, and Melony enjoys the new privileges within Plasma that come with being Ghetsis' favorite.

After BW2, Ghetsis goes into a big depression. The only thing kind of maintaining him alive is his slight worry for Melony's condition, as Melony lost a whole forearm and an eye to Kyurem. When Melony heals, Ghetsis starts letting himself die once he knows Melony will make it. Melony becomes his main caretaker once he is fully healed, because his life now revolves entirely around Ghetsis. Melony gave up his family and friends for him and he refuses to let him die.

Sure enough, Melony ends up being Ghetsis' rock and caretaker. It's a very ambiguous ending, because Melony was brainwashed for years like all the other grunts, because Mel had a very unbalanced relationship with Ghetsis for years due to their status differences. And yet, post-BW2 is the first time Mel and Ghetsis are actually equals. There's no Plasma anymore, and Mel lives in Ghetsis' manor for free, alongside the Shadow Triad. If he wanted to, Melony could let the Triad do everything for Ghetsis. Is Melony taking care of Ghetsis because he feels like he needs to ? Is Melony taking care of him because he genuinely wants to ? Many questions. Their relationship post BW2 is still pretty much a wip as you can see !

[williceunleashed]

Do your selfships/oc x canons have ship names?

I noticed people usually gave names to their ships, so I had to brainstorm with @ghetsismybeloved for a few days to find good names !!

I have settled on fruitsaladshipping for N/Dardanne ! Because their hair colors are just very eatable. Also I love Tom Cardy's songs I'm so sorry. Also also, Fruit Salad was the temporary name of their fanchild ! :)

For Melony/Ghetsis I have landed on rockbottomshipping because oh my god look at them. They are the worst. They complete each other in their awfulness. The world can only hope they never reproduce and they take their evil with them to the grave

Also the characters are OCs ! I don't have personas or self-inserts :) Thank you for your interest in my characters and stories !!! :)))